Shred-A-Thon Comes To Payson

A document shredder is coming to the Rim Country and anyone who has personal documents they need to dispose of can shred their worries away.

The Shred-a-Thon, sponsored by AARP through the Arizona Attorney General's office, along with Kathy Coombes, coordinator of senior programs at the Senior Center, will be held at the Senior Circle building on Sept. 19.

Virginia Correa Creager, executive member of AARP Arizona, said the group is offering the public an opportunity to safely dispose of sensitive personal documents.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said identity theft is the number one problem in Arizona. The state also leads the nation in identity theft cases.

"This is open to the general public, so anyone at all can come in and have their documents shredded," Creager said. "It's going to be a drive-up sort of thing, people can just drive up, get their papers shredded and drive away, in and out."

She said the attorney general's Shred-a-Thon truck will be at the event and all shredded documents will be loaded into it and disposed of by the attorney general's office, adding another level of security to the event.

Creager said the original idea for a Shred-a-Thon was proposed by AARP to the attorney general's office and has been very successful.

"Ever since the attorney general's office accepted our idea, it has been a big success at events all over the state," Creager said.

She said people are not limited to how much they can bring for shredding.

"They can bring their boxes or bags of papers, or whatever they have them in and we will shred them up for them," she said.

"Sometimes when relatives or friends have passed away there are sensitive papers that need to be disposed of and this is an excellent way to take care of that," Creager said. "We want to help minimize the risk of something happening to someone."

To minimize risks of identity theft in daily life, Creager suggested people purchase a personal shredder and dispose of any personal documents using it.

She also said an effective way to add a level of safety to signing one's name is to use a security pen like the Uni-Ball 207, which has ink that embeds itself into the actual fibers of checks and paper, making it almost impossible to wash out.

"Using a pen like the Uni-Ball 207 is a really effective way to protect oneself," she said. "For example, a thief can't take a check for $50 and wash it out and change it to $500 without it being detected, using a security pen."

For more information about the Shred-a-Thon in Payson, contact Virginia Creager, at 474-8936.

For more information on identity or other upcoming Shred-a-Thons in Arizona, go to: www.azag.gov.